


Order of the Betrayed

by Jbee



Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [24]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:41:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24615451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jbee/pseuds/Jbee
Summary: Kiran finds a old mysterious gem while her team carries out their mission in Sem. While she is sure it's a dragonstone, she has never met a manakete from Askr before, so who could it belong to?
Relationships: Summoner | Eclat | Kiran/Other(s)
Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703545
Kudos: 3





	Order of the Betrayed

**Author's Note:**

> This series is a collection of short stories driven by the FEH Subreddit Weekly Writing Prompts. First published June 8, 2020. "Kiran sets out to find the owner of a lost Dragonstone."

“Just a little more.” Kiran murmured, she stretched her arm as far as she could. Her finger tips just brushing the leather bound corner of Stone. The screech of the Nøkken echoed in the damp, underground cavern, and she felt its claws dig into her back, pulling her away from reaching her tome.

The Nøkken flipped Kiran over on her back, baring its long fanged teeth as it laughed. It held her down, its long fingers around her neck. The creature’s yellow eyes glowed in the darkness and she could feel its cold, bloated skin when she tried to push the creature off. Drops of water pelted her face, falling from the weeds that clung to its body. The water pooled under her, causing the soil to become mud, and she began to sink while she struggled to free herself from the Nøkken’s hold.

Kiran could hear her team just on the other side of the rock walls, trying to break through, _they just need more time,_ she thought, the Nøkken’s grip getting tighter, _just a little more._ She gasped for air, _no_ , _there is no more time. I have to do something._ Kiran reached down to her side unclasping Breidablik and pulling it from its holster. It glowed with soft pale light, only illuminating the space around it, and the Nøkken screeched again when it saw the weapon come up to its head. A screech that was muted by the sound of Breidablik’s blast as it touched the surface of the creature’s skin, sending a pulse of energy into the Nøkken’s skull.

Light shimmered through its thin skin as the power from Breidablik ripped through its body. _“_ Oh fuu…” Kiran managed to mutter right before the cavern and herself was painted with the watery muck that was the insides of the Nøkken. She let Breidablik and her arm fall to her side, and breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the rock of the cavern wall finally give way. Sunlight flooded the small dank space.

“Kiran!” Cherche called out, as she was the first to climb over the broken boulders of the former wall. “Are you alright?” she knelt down beside Kiran, helping her sit up, “We had a bit of trouble breaking through the rock.”

“Yeah, just kind of shaken up…” Kiran shivered, the Nøkken had dragged her down beneath the surface of the water before arriving in its nest and she was soaked to the bone. Her coat was heavy, covered in muck and what was left of the Nøkken. “But that’s the last time I agree to be the bait.”

“Wow, check out the loot!” Gaius exclaimed, shinning the torch he held around the space. Broken items, bones, torn clothing, and accessories litter the ground of the cavern.

A shimmer of light caught Kiran’s eye. The sparkle of a gemstone encased in years of sediment, poking out of the soil. She bent over and dug it out with her fingers, pulling it free from the earth. There was a long chain attached, and Kiran began to pick off the old mud to reveal its smooth, shiny surface.

“What’s that?” Henry asked, putting down the samples of the creature he was collecting, and joining Kiran’s side.

“I don’t know.” Kiran replied, “It reminds me of a dragonstone. But I don’t recognize this inscription.” She rubbed the gemstone with the bottom of her sweater, “It looks to be old Askran, but… different.”

“Whatever it is, it’s time to leave.” Cherche told them, using her axe to clear out some of the rock wall at the opening. “I want to be back in Sem before dusk.” She said gesturing for them to leave, before she turned back to the cavern and hollered at the team’s thief who was still busy stuffing his bag. “Gaius! NOW!”

* * *

“Are you still lookin’ at that rock?” Gaius asked, lounging in the corner of their booth. He casually spun a gold coin on the table across from Kiran, as they waited for their dinner at the local inn they were staying at.

She shivered again, she had changed in to a dry set of clothes, but the time she spent in the damp cavern had given her a chill she wasn’t able to shake. “Yeah. I mean It’s odd, I have only seen dragonstones that came from other worlds.” Kiran replied without looking up. She had managed to clean most of the dirt off the gem, and she was positive it was a dragonstone, but she still couldn’t understand what the writing on the back said. “Excuse me?” she waved one of the wait staff working as they walked by, “Can you tell me what this says?” Kiran asked, pointing to the inscription on the back of the stone.

“Oh, sure.” The waitress leaned over to look at the stone Kiran held out, her eyes grew wide, and she gasped. “I’m s-sorry, I have to go.” she muttered, as she swiftly walked away and into the kitchen, the doors swinging behind her.

“What was that about?” Gaius sneered, after watching the interaction, even Henry looked up from the journal he was writing in.

“I don’t know,” Kiran slumped back into her seat, looking at the stone. “Why didn’t she tell us…”

“Put the stone away now Kiran.” Chereche interrupted, her posture stiffening as they were approached by the owner of the inn.

“S-sorry, we don’t want any trouble here.” The owner quietly told them, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Here’s your coin back.” He said, dropping a small leather pouch on the table.

“What?!” Gaius was quick to protest, slamming the spinning gold coin under his palm. “You can’t…”

“Enough.” Cherche commanded, “Good Innkeeper, we also don’t want any trouble.” She softly addressed the owner, picking up the pouch and handing it back to him. “Please keep this to cover any loss we might have caused. We will be on our way.”

“Captain!” Gaius cried out, “We’ve done nothing…”

“WE will be on our way.” Cherche glared at the thief, stressing every word as she stood up towering over the table. The team knew that this was her final decision and were quick to follow suit without push back or causing a scene.

“Why did you do that?!” Gaius questioned the teams captain, chasing her out of the inn and into the street.

“I was really looking forward to a hot bath too…” Kiran sighed, looking at the stars. She wasn’t looking forward to spending the night cold and covered in Nøkken filth.

“We are weeks away from the castle.” Cherche stopped and turned to address the team, “It’s better to spend an extra night under the stars, then to quarrel with the innocent locals.”

“Ungrateful is what they are!” Gaius shot back, crossing his arms. “We take care of their problem and they toss us aside like yesterday’s bathwater!”

“It’s the stone that you carry.” A soft voice spoke from the shadows of the nearby alley.

A chill traveled up Kiran’s back, turning in the direction of the voice, “W-who are you?” she asked, as the figure cloaked in black robes and a long tattered dress stepped out into the street.

“My name is Lakin.” She quietly said, “My mother wishes to speak to you.”

“What is this stone?” Kiran asked, stepping towards the stranger, she pulled the stone out from the top of her sweater. She found herself becoming desperate for answers. “Can you tell us what is written on it?”

“No. I cannot.” The cloaked finger shook her head, “But my mother can.”

“And where is your mother dear?” Cherche softly inquired, lightly holding Kiran back by the shoulder.

“She is in the Whisper Woods. I am to bring you to her.” Dark gloved hands gently pulled the hood back, her long dark brown hair spilled over her shoulders, Lakin was beautiful, and Kiran heard Gaius whisper a prayer to Naga when he saw her. Kiran Even found herself blushing when she locked eyes with the young woman. “Please follow me.” Lakin said, walking back into the alley, the tree line just beyond the inn.

Gaius smiled, and dashed off to catch up with the mysterious woman. Kiran was quick to follow suit before Cherche could say a word. She was far too curious about the stone to risk anyone stopping her now.

* * *

“We are here.” Lakin called back, as she walked down the narrow dirt path. Dark woods with low hanging branches to each side lined the side of the path. A small hut made entirely of twisted twigs and moss sat at the end. It appeared to have been there for years, the large trees to its side had grown around its corners and encased the hut within their great trunks.

“So you live out here?” Gaius asked, he had closely followed Lakin the whole way, flirting with her at any chance he could get. “It seems so damp and cold for someone as beautiful as you.” He boldly told her, “Maybe you want someone to keep you warm tonight?”

“I do not feel the cold.” Lakin smiled, and leaned in to whisper in Gaius’s ear, “However it pleases me that you will keep me company tonight.” She opened the door to the dark hut and stepped over the threshold. “Let us light the fires first.”

Gaius placed his hands together, and looked up at the sky, “Thank-you Naga.” He whispered into the night, before disappearing into the dark hut behind Lakin.

“Kiran, keep on your guard.” Cherche tapped Kiran’s shoulder, stopping her from entering the hut. “Whatever that stone might be, it’s not worth our lives.” She said, removing Minerva’s call whistle from her belt, “Henry, please stay out here and keep an eye for anything suspicious. Use this if you find us in any trouble.” She instructed him, giving him the whistle, and he nodded in agreement.

“Just give the signal and I will have your back captain.” Kiran told her Cherche before entering the hut. The air inside felt dry and stale, but there was an aroma of sweetness that was comforting. She could hear Lakin giggling in the dark and Gauis muffled moans, they were clearly more interested in lighting their passions. “I can’t see anything…” Kiran began to say just as the fire in the hearth sparked to life on it’s own, filling the room with a warm orange glow. Half melted candles around the hut began to light simultaneously, and she gasped at the sight of what she saw in front of her.

“Stay behind me.” Cherche told her, stepping in front of Kiran. Even with all her years of experience the captain was shocked at what she saw. Lakin’s cloak and dress had fallen away, as well as her façade. She was no longer the human beauty they had met in Sem, but a wooden skeleton come to life, made of sticks and branches, knurled and twisted. Cherche’s voice cracked as she tried to get the thief’s attention, “G-gaius…”

Gaius groaned and pulled away to give some sly remark to the captain, but instead he gasped when he opened his eyes, and saw Lakin’s true form. “What the Hel!” he cried out, pushing himself from her arms and tripping over his feet. The wooden skeleton reached out and tried to help him as he fell, a beetle crawled out of the dark pit where her eyes use to be, and her wooden jaw dangling by a few vines. “I’m going be sick…” Gaius gagged, as he stumbled for the exit of the hut and out the door.

“Lakin!” An old woman called out, as she entered the room from behind a curtain. She was a small, thin woman, and worn a plethora of tattered layers to her gown. Her long gray hair flowed from under her cloth cap wrapped with twigs and antlers piled on top of her head. She appeared old, but her skin was smooth and eyes were bright like a blood moon. The woman reached out to the wooden skeleton, and brushed a tear from under its eye socket, “I know, I know.” She whispered in comfort, shaking her head and leading the whimpering Lakin to a bed in the back of the hut.

“What is that?” Cherche demanded, standing her ground, her hand tightly gripping the handle of a dagger at her side. “Who are you?”

“I am known as Mother Rå, warden of these woods.” The old woman approached them, the edges of her skirts dragged across the floor, “Lakin? Just a puppet I took in, cast aside by her maker, poor thing. But I tire easily and she helps me with chores.” She told them taking a seat on a stool near the hearth. “My apologies if she scared your friend, but I feared you would not come if you saw her true form.”

“You assume right.” Cherche coldly told the woman, “Why have you brought us here?”

“The stone you carry. I felt its power when you unearthed it.” Mother Rå, tilted her head, looking past Cherche and at Kiran. “I have not felt such a thing in many years. I wanted to confirm its existence with my own eyes.”

“And why should we show you?” Cherche questioned, taking a step forward, “What do you know of it?” The captain turned to a shelf of odd items, picking up a small statue, “Perhaps it’s worth a good amount of gold, and you plan to scam us out of our hard earned treasure?” She coyly said, testing the old woman, “What would you say if we sold it for profit once we arrive back in the city.”

“That would be a mistake.” Mother Rå brows furrowed, and she shook her head, “You do not understand what you have there.”

“I understand that it’s something you want.” Cherche placed the statue back on the shelf, “Tell us what you know, and we will entertain the option to share it with you.” She told the Mother Rå, Kiran was starting to feel awkwardly invisible as she watched the two women standoff.

“You are strong of heart and mind.” Mother Rå smiled, “Very well. The stone you found is a dragonstone and it contains enormous power when in the correct hands.” She said, turning to Kiran, her smile growing wider, “But you already knew that. Isn’t that right, summoner?”

“It doesn’t make sense; it can’t be a dragonstone.” Kiran blurted out, pushing past Cherche. She had so many questions, and couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “The only manaketes in Askr are the ones I have summoned; Askr doesn’t have any of its own. Does it?”

“No. At least not anymore.” Mother Rå sighed, “However, there are those that still believe and follow their teachings.” She told them, reaching her hand out to Kiran, “Please, may I.”

Kiran’s heart skipped a beat when she realized that this woman knew that she had the dragonstone in her possession. The startled summoner looked over to Cherche, who nodded at her, gesturing to give the stone to Mother Rå. Kiran pulled the chain that was around her neck, producing the stone she had worn under her sweater, “Can you tell us what the inscription says?” she asked as she slowly dropped the dragonstone in to the old woman’s palm, “Why where the villagers so afraid when they saw it?”

“It is as I suspected.” Mother Rå said, turning the stone over in her hands. The stone seemed to be a blaze as it caught the light from the fire. “This owner of this dragonstone belonged to the Order of the Betrayed.” The woman sighed, “A group dedicated to seize Zenith, and the worlds connected to it, for themselves.”

“The Order of the Betrayed?” Kiran asked, kneeling down beside the woman, “I’ve never heard Alfonse talk about them before.”

“No, you would not have.” Mother Rå said, looking down at Kiran, “They have not been active since the former King Gustave was a child. To tell the truth I am surprise they did not resurface after his death. The Askran throne is so very vulnerable right now, I fear the only thing keeping them from striking now is your Order of Heroes.”

“Tell us more about the other Order.” Cherche asked, wondering around the hut, as she took stock of the room, “How did they come to be?”

“And why would they have dragonstones?” Kiran asked, looking at the stone in Mother Rå’s hand.

“When the god-dragons Askr and Embla were young, most of Zenith was ruled by their closest kin, the various dragon tribes across the land.” Mother Rå, began to explained, she held the stone up by the chain, the orange light reflecting and scattering in a beautiful pattern around the room. “Many of them believe that the humans, and the worlds beyond the gates were theirs and theirs alone to control. They would travel to other worlds fighting and pillaging.” She told them, her blood-moon coloured eyes growing wide. “Some never returned, stayed behind to rule over the realms they had found. The Zenith god-dragons had enough of the dragon tribe’s cruelty, and raised up an army of humans lead by their chosen heroes, Líf and Thrasir.”

“The first rulers of Askr and Embla!” Kiran interrupted, her mind was racing, trying to process the information the old woman was telling her.

“Yes.” Mother Rå nodded, dropping the stone to her lap and looking down on the summoner. “The god-dragons gifted their heroes with the ability to open and close the gates of Zenith and together they waged war upon the dragon tribes. Hunting them down, forcing who they could back to Zenith and cutting off their sources from other worlds.” The old woman’s voice cracked, and she touched the stone lightly as she continued, “Much blood was split on both sides and soon there was only a few dragons left in Zenith, forcing them to hide their forms by using dragonstones.”

Mother Rå paused before she continued, “One manakete leader, Vurm, believed that the dragon tribes were betrayed by the god-dragons and gathered who was left to form the Order of the Betrayed. Etching their loyalty onto their dragonstones, they recruited humans, with promises of power and gold, to help them take down Askr and Emblem from the inside their courts.” Mother Rå closed her eyes, her breath seemed to become labored, but she cleared her throat and continued. “However, Líf and Thrasir contracted warriors from other worlds that had suffered at the dragon tribe’s hands. They quickly killed Vurm and the other manaketes in their weakened states and vanquished the Order. The dragonstones that weren’t destroyed were traded or lost.”

“But if all the Zenith dragon tribes were wiped out, then why would the Order of the Betrayed still exist?” Kiran asked, she could see that the old woman was growing tired, but she had to know.

“There are those in Zenith that have always felt that the manaketes ideology was correct. Even though they were only human, they believed it is still their right to use the power of the gates to transverse worlds for their own personal gain.” Mother Rå told them, shaking her head slowly. “They want to abolished the Order of Heroes, and take control of the ancient royal bloodlines so they may use the gates as they see fit. They pass their dragonstones and ideas down from one generation to the next in hopes that one day they can strike back and seize Zenith for their own.” She lifted the stone up again, and passed it back to Kiran. “To be seen in possession of such a trinket would be execution for most. Where did you find it?”

“In an underground cavern. We were hunting down a Nøkken that had been terrorizing the locals.” Kiran explained, putting the dragonstone’s chain around her neck again.

“I see.” Mother Rå murmured, “Well it is not hard to believe that the owner of this stone might have been lured and killed by the Nøkken.” She sighed, shaking her head before she added, “Nasty creatures. They are poison to the waters.”

“You are familiar with them?” Cherche asked, from a dark corner of the hut. The fire had died down, and many of the candles around the hut had flickered out. “Askr seems to have all sorts of odd creatures and ghouls as of late.”

“The vail between realms is growing thinner.” Mother Rå said quietly, her attention seemed to be focused on something in the distance.

“How many realms are there?” Kiran couldn’t help but ask, she had never met anyone so forthcoming with information about Askr’s history.

“That is like asking how many worlds are there? Questions for the gods, those are.” Mother Rå yawned, as the last of the candles snuffed themselves out. “If you would excuse me, I have reached my limit for this evening. Take the stone with you, but keep it out of sight, not everyone in Askr is your friend.” She warned them as she nodded off into a deep sleep where she sat.

“Thank-you Mother Rå, rest well.” Cherche whispered, as she touched Kiran’s shoulder. “Come along now.”

Kiran pushed herself up to her feet. Only the light from the charcoals in the hearth were left, and she had wished Alfonse was here to meet this woman, he would have had much better questions for her then the ones she had asked. She looked down at the sleeping woman, noticing a chain around her neck. Similar to the one attached to the dragonstone. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, but she was too frightened to check the necklace and wake the old woman. She quickly turned to leave, following her captain out of the hut and into the warm air of the night.

“That was…” Kiran paused, she was trying to decide if she should mention what she just saw to Cherche, “interesting.”

“Quite.” Cherche agreed walking over and nudging Gaius with her boot, “How are you feeling?”

“Nothing a few candy bars can’t fix.” Henry replied, as Gaius groaned, the thief had his head resting between his knees.

Cherche nodded and looked around at the dark forest that surround them, it was the first time Kiran had ever seen the captain look so uncertain. “Take a few hours to rest and be ready to leave at the first light of dawn.” She told them, picking up her satchel, “If we keep a tight schedule we can shave a week off of our travel time.”

“Hold up, what’s the rush?” Gaius hiccuped, he lifted his head, looking paler then normal.

“I will fill you in once we have made camp.” Cherche told him, turning to face Kiran, “I trust you can follow Mother Rå’s advice and keep that trinket safe and hidden?”

Kiran nodded, “Of course.” She answered, she felt uneasy now with the stone and she just wanted to get back to the castle to warn Alfonse about the Order of the Betrayed.

“Good.” Cherche told her, trying to force a smile, “Then let’s get ready to go home.”

End.

**Author's Note:**

> I made a lot of stuff up, please don't think it's canon lore for the Fire Emblem Heroes game. Thanks, have fun! :)  
> AND I totally forgot about those generic Embla/Muspell manakete map bbys. ¯\\(ツ)/¯ Oh well, maybe I will come up with something to address it later! That's the best part of being in control of your own FEH world!


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